SOOC Sharpened image

[FrankMi]

I am running into an unusual sharpening issue. I have been working with an image and applying levels to compensate for an image with a histogram that has 20% empty on the left side so the darkest area is a gray. When I get the image looking natural I notice dark halos around areas that are almost pure white, primarily the water droplets. OK, fair enough. Did I oversharpen? I don't think so as so far I've only applied Capture Sharpening at 300%, 0.3 Radius, and 0 Amount. I've increased the contrast slightly but it shouldn't make that much difference. So I go back to the original SOOC JPG to see where I am picking up the black halos and I see them in the original.

Here is a pixel-peeping image of the original. What I am finding is that, because the issue is in the original, anything I do that would increase sharpness or contrast, seems to be also greatly exaggerate the problem.



What I think I need is a way to change all the black pixels to a gray that matches the right side of the histogram, then I can apply normal Level and contrast adjustments without increasing the black halos.

I tried several techniques in PS CS5, including Replace Color but I haven't yet hit upon the right technique to change just the darkest pixels to a little lighter without affective the look of the entire image.

Any suggestions would be most welcomed!

[The Blue Boy]

Hi Frank,

So I go back to the original SOOC JPG to see where I am picking up the black halos and I see them in the original.

I think you've answered your own question right there mate. Your camera will be applying sharpening as it converts to jpeg. It then discards a whole load of information within the original file as it compresses it for output.

Another reason to shoot in raw, or raw + jpeg. Trust me, you'll see the difference.

[Dave Humphries]

Another reason to shoot in raw, or raw + jpeg. Trust me, you'll see the difference.

Absolutely, but I think you knew that, although others reading this may not.

Hi Frank,

I see the camera was a Sony DSC-H1 from 2005 at 5.1 MP, it doesn't look like RAW is an option for you
Time to upgrade, you gotta get the Canon S100 with me

The dpreview here says that sharpness can be set in "three levels", I suggest you find that in the menu and turn it to minimum (if not already there) and Off if that's possible.

Well, if I was ever considering going for a "jpg only" model for my P&S "take everywhere" camera, this just convinced me not to

Cheers,

[FrankMi]

Another reason to shoot in raw, or raw + jpeg. Trust me, you'll see the difference.

Absolutely, Mark! I shoot only RAW in my D3100 but these were taken before that time. Actually, this image is one of many I've been working on to improve my post processing skills and learn new post processing techniques, so being a JPG image has caused me to search for PS techniques I might not have tripped over with my RAW images. On the other hand, I do believe that getting the answer to this issue may help me address skills that could come in handy for use on the RAW images as well. Cheers!

[The Blue Boy]

Sorry Frank, I may have posted in haste!

I tried several techniques in PS CS5, including Replace Color but I haven't yet hit upon the right technique to change just the darkest pixels to a little lighter without affective the look of the entire image.

Have you tried playing with Curves in selective channels? I'll try and find a tutorial for this as it's a bit too much for me to explain but when I was shown what can be achieved doing this with all manner of techniques, I was amazed.

[FrankMi]

Time to upgrade, you gotta get the Canon S100 with me

Did you get the S100? If so, how are you liking it?

The dpreview here says that sharpness can be set in "three levels", I suggest you find that in the menu and turn it to minimum (if not already there) and Off if that's possible.

I didn't know that was possible! It isn't in the Menu Options, then I found that only if I am in P,S,A, and M modes that it can be set between +, Normal, and -. I set it to - but don't often use this camera unless I need more zoom than the 55-300mm on my Nikon or it's the only camera available.

Thanks for the tip, Dave!

OK! Now back to the original question. How can I change isolated pixels by color in Photoshop CS5? Anyone?

[FrankMi]

Well it took a while, but with Willie's help I was able to test two solutions.

If the issue is noticed SOOC, and as it doesn't happen very often, you need to be looking for it or you won't notice until you are well into post processing, you can open the JPEG in ACR and use the Clarity slider to REDUCE the halos by sliding it to the left. This isn't perfect but it may just nudge the image back into the 'normal' realm.

If you have already post processed when you notice that there are black halos, as it was in this case, the following procedure can be used. It may be possible to use this procedure with other colors successfully but I didn't test that scenario. I zoomed in to clearly see the progress and here is what I started with.



1. Create a copy of the image layer (of course!).

2. Using the eye dropper, selected the white from a typical water drop as the foreground color.

3. Create a new layer and used Edit/Fill for the white foreground color.

4. Set Foreground color to Black, the color in the halos I want to replace.

5. Select the image then Select/All and Select/Color Range.

6. Color Range will select the darkest black (seen here in Red) based on the current Foreground Color, and the Fuzziness slider (I found that ~50 worked here) will control how many pixels close to the Foreground Color are selected.



7. Use Select/Invert then Layer/Layer Mask/Reveal Selection to apply a mask that sees through to the new layer below.



This gives you a layer where all the darkest black is now showing the white foreground color. We didn’t want to eliminate all the black as we didn’t want to start the sharpening process all over again.

8. We can now combine the masked image and the new layers using CTL+ALT+SHIFT+E.

9. All that is left to do is to blend the modified layer with the original, but only where the black halos are a problem and maybe not totally even there as we don’t want to lose the blacks and contrast elsewhere in the image.

Here is the final result:

[PhotomanJohn]

Thank you Frank and Willie. I will hopefully file this somewhere in my old brain where I can find it when I need it.

John

[FrankMi]

Thank you Frank and Willie. I will hopefully file this somewhere in my old brain where I can find it when I need it.

John

You are certainly welcome, John. I created a Word doc for photography links that has a one line subject followed by the link. I just update the doc when I find something new. Cheers!

[Dave Humphries]

Did you get the S100? If so, how are you liking it?

I wish
I don't think it is even shipping yet

Due anytime between about now and 01/01/2012 (latter date quoted by Amazon UK, no doubt to avoid orders that subsequently get cancelled if/when their stocks are delayed or sold out)

I will be sure to let you all know how I find it

Cheers,